Through the bars
by temarcia
Summary: What happens when a certain Decepticon medic got caught by the Autobot patrol? Is it possible for the enemies to find a way to cooperate? Or is it all just a game and only one side can win it? /Warning: this story contains mild violence, torture and sexual-themed scenes!
1. Chapter 1

The Autobot base was rather quiet until a loud crash echoed through the halls, a cuffed and muzzled femme had bashed one of the bots escorting her into the wall. The other mech grabbed her and tossed her into a containment cell locking it and waiting for the one who was to guard the prisoner.

Soon enough a sound of hasty footsteps announced the guard's arrival, however the Autobot soldier at the cell's door would rather expect somebody else to relieve him, not the tactician's assistant himself. Yet it was the ever-helpful, bright green mech who stood before them. The two soldiers saluted quickly and the officer saluted back.

"I've heard our patrol stumbled upon an enemy near the city."

"Yes, sir. This Decepticon femme. She severely injured the two patrolling soldiers and attempted to escape but ran into the second patrol. The interrogation officer is on his way, we got orders to keep her locked 'till then."

The tactician noodled and moved closer to the cell to take a look at the state the said femme was in.

She glared back at him, she was in perfect condition except for a few nicks in her armor. Then she growled lowly bashing her cuffs against the electrically charged bars making them spark before she undid her muzzle tossing it to the side, rubbing her jaw.

Outride carefully watched the prisoner's action. The femme had some fight in her that was for sure. He wouldn't dare to get too close to the bars, she was a Seeker after all and he knew all too well how dangerous and unpredictable Con's like her could be. He had seen many Seekers in action, he hadn't met a Seeker femme yet though.

"You two are dismissed for now, I was ordered to ask the Con a few questions," he informed the other Autobots.

The pair of soldiers walked away, Outride followed them with his blue optics and when they disappeared behind the corner he turned to the prisoner once more.

She was not as fragile as he had imagined a Seeker femme to be but still much less bulky than most of the grounders including himself. Her armor was black and crimson red, her bio-lights shone like red dwarf stars in the dark. His gaze lazily travels from her legs to the top of her wings. And those big, pointy wings of hers, he had to admit, were truly impressive.

He turned away his head afraid she might somehow read his thoughts, if he looked at her for too long.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," she snorted looking around the containment unit mapping out any and all possible route to escape as her wings flicked in agitation. Spotting none she sighed crossing her arms and drumming her claws on her arm, making a light tapping similar to a scraplet's steps.

The little smile grew on the Autobot's face as he noticed that the prisoner still hoped there would be a way to escape her cell. Oh, how naive of her to believe things were just that easy. They were at the one of the biggest, remaining bases on the northern hemisphere. And if that wasn't enough, the femme was still cuffed and behind the electro-shock bars.

"I have all the time in the world," he assured her, "you're not going anywhere anytime soon."

"True. Allow me to try again: Stop staring like a creep!" She huffed cracking her neck before sitting on the cell berth mumbling to herself and looking over her cuffs as her wings flattened out.

Her comment had hurt him a bit. Who was she to judge him? Just a pitiful, low-ranked deception soldier who had fallen into the hands of the enemy. And yet she dared to tell him what he could and could not do. Outride would have laughed at that, if only his tactical mind didn't make him think about things twice.

The femme had a point, he shouldn't stare like that or even talk to her for too long – all of those actions might come across as very suspicious, as if he was trying to fraternize with the enemy. Instead of chit-chatting with her he had to ask her what his boss wanted to know and if that failed, well, then he had a reason to go ask her again.

"Listen, Con," he made the last word sound like an insult, "I'm not here for entertainment. Answer my questions or I'm out of here, calling other guards who won't be as polite as I am. Your name, your rank, your reasons to be in this area, those are things I'm interested in – nothing else."

She chuckled at that.

"Oh sweetspark, calling me a Con isn't an insult. And why should I tell you? After all, I'm just a captured Con. Save your breath, I'm about as useful as a drone. So as they screw off, I'd like to rust in peace," she said turning her back to him and flaring her wings. "And your little interrogators won't get anything out of me, my mind will be fried the minute I go to give any information."

The very moment she turned around presenting her black wings, he felt the strange urge to touch them or rather to grab them and run his fingers over their metallic surface, testing whether they would twitch under his touch or not.

He held himself back from doing that of course. It would be the dumbest thing to do right here and right now.

"So you're saying, you have a virus installed in your processor? In that case I will have to inform our medics about it, maybe that can be helped."

"You're a fool to think it wouldn't activate the moment your medics start poking around in my helm." She snorted before noticing he was eying her wings. A nasty smirk appeared on her faceplate. In no time she decided she could toy with him for a little bit, swiveling her wings like she were simply getting more comfortable.

"Not able to share any information you're as good as dead anyway," he told her with a cold and formal tone, trying his best not to pay attention to the movements of her wings. "It will be a pity to just execute you, wouldn't it? So maybe try to think of a way to cooperate with us."

She chuckled once more. "Oh well, all I can really help you with are your first questions. Name, NorthStar. Rank, head field medic. Reason for being here, a distress signal." She turned back to face him. "And if you're going to have me killed at least take the cuffs off so I can enjoy my final hours as much as possible."

The mech's facial expression changed a bit as he heard her confession. He didn't expect her to talk, not this soon at least, he also didn't even think of the possibility that she could be a medic sent to help somebot.

Trying to sort out all the new facts about the prisoner inside his head, Outride moved even closer to the electro-bars almost touching them. The bluish light coming from them reflected off his bright, clean armor. In the darkness of the cell room he seemed so shiny and so out of place.

"Thank you," he said slowly, his voice very calm and quiet but his blue optics were burning in the darkness as well. "NorthStar... I will remember your name," he added after a long pause. "Your fate is not for me to decide but... Since you're willing to cooperate," he smiled lightly and as innocent as he could. "I'm sure my commanding officer will feel generous after hearing what you just told me. I believe you will be treated well and judged fairly. I'll go to report now."

With that he was about to move away from the bars but before he did, he gave her one last look.

"I think the cuffs are not needed for now," he stated a bit louder than before, sounding as if he wanted to convince someone else to the rightfulness of his decision. Then he pulled out the key and showed it to the femme. "Come closer and I will take them off."

A ghost of a smile graced the femme's face, there was no mischievous undertone to it, unlike when she had smirked. She got up and walked over to the bars but only close enough for him to unlock the cuffs as she held her arms out. After all she didn't trust this mech.

Her smile made the Autobot lower his head. He did that on an impulse, not wanting her to see his face from such a short distance. She was very close, on the one hand he liked that fact. He liked when she did as told, that she obeyed and that he was the one holding the key to the poor substitute for freedom that she wanted. On the other hand, he didn't like the way she walked and acted. She had apparently figured out that he was fascinated by her and now she was teasing him on purpose. That was a dangerous game to play – especially here in the prison area with all the security cameras on and all the guards that might show up anytime, patrolling.

And then again, he was good at strategic games – the risky ones were always the ones worth winning the most.

Slowly he took her hand in his and unlocked the cuffs with the other hand. She wanted to pull her arms back but he didn't allow it, still holding her right servo in his grip.

"One more thing..." he whispered quickly before she could get too disturbed by his action and possibly attack him. "My name is Outride. Remember that."

Then he just let her hand go as if nothing ever happened.

"Outride?" She hummed softly rubbing her wrists and eying him from helm to ped. Her sharp optics seemed to scan every inch of him, seemingly like how a predator sized up its prey. She knew full well he was a threat and possibly her only ticket out. "Should I look forward to seeing you around or are you going to leave me all alone down here?"

He stayed cool but could almost feel her gaze upon his frame. The pit must have sent this femme in here to destroy his good reputation of a reliable and reasonable bot he had worked on for so long.

Not believing himself, he actually replied to her teasing: "I'm not a security guard but..." he paused looking for the right words, there were things he shouldn't be saying aloud, especially to an enemy. "I'll check up on you the next orn. There's never too many inspections in the prison block. So you better behave."

"Yes sir," the femme said cocking a hip with a mock salute and a Cheshire grin.

He blushed, turned around and walked away not without some hesitation. There were no more reasons to explain his presence there. It was better to go and report – after all the poor, trapped Seeker could wait. He walked down the corridor passing the guards at the exit door. They saluted him too but nothing like her. The way she moved and talked and smiled – all of that got deep under his plating and he didn't think that would change anytime soon.

The report he gave to the Master Tactician pleased the old bot, he even thanked Outride for his effort. Little did he know, Outride was enjoying every moment in the prison. Now he had to think of a new excuse to go there again the next orn.

He thought of her when he went to the canteen, ordering the additional energon ration for the new prisoner. Later he would talk to the soldier at the food serving shift to switch places with him, for now he had other things to take care of. Typing down his daily rapport he still thought of her though. What was that something the Seeker femme got that the Autobot femmes were lacking?

Finally off duty, Outride could take some rest. He marched to his private quarters greeting the soldiers that passed him by in the long corridors. Lying on his recharge berth he thought of NorthStar once more. The mental image of her swaying hip plates, of her high heels, dark lips and her pretty wings filled his obsessed mind like a giant flood. The Autobots wouldn't sentence her to death, he was sure about that but they also wouldn't keep her here in the Macron Gamma base forever. Which meant he didn't have much time for admiring, her regardless of what he had told her before. But he would worry about this tomorrow, for now he should get some recharge. Closing his blue optics he saw her again and somehow he knew his dreams would be pleasant.


	2. Chapter 2

The femme imprisoned in cell no. 576 sighed, pacing around after a short recharge. As a Seeker she was used to the freedom of the skies and now she couldn't even see the outside world. She'd end up going crazy, if she didn't find a way out, though it could be worse. At least she had her little Autobot to toy with which was better than nothing. She needed him to escape, she needed his help but admitting it was out of the question.

She eventually stopped pacing and sat on her berth.

It didn't take long for her to hear the incoming footsteps.

The familiar frame of the Autobot officer appeared on the other side of the bars. Outride's bright, blue bio-lights shone happily in the dim light and his yellow-green armor looked like freshly waxed. One could think he got ready for some official meeting, not for routine guard duty. And yet he was down here, holding a small metal plate with an energon cube on it.

"Good morning," he greeted the prisoner politely but without a smile or anything that might be read as a sign of affection. "I brought you some energon."

"Morning."

She smiled getting up and walking over to the bars, her wings fluttered lightly in greeting.

He had to do his best not to stare at her for too long. He still remembered what she had called him just an orn ago. Making her distrustful, creeping her out or scaring her was definitely not what he wanted. Slowly he knelt down and put the tray with her food on the cell's floor. Then he pushed it in her direction, it went between the electro-bars without touching them.

"Refuel yourself, you will need to be in a good condition," he started as he shot her a quick glance, from his current position he had a pretty nice view on her long, white legs. "If the story you told me yesterday was true and you're just a medic on a rescue mission, we will move you to the one of our work camps so you can make better use of your skills than saving Cons. Or did you perhaps lie to me about the S.O.S signal?"

His eyes narrowed slightly, this time he was looking up at her face trying to catch a glimpse of untruthfulness written on it.

She sighed displaying her inbuilt scanner and showed him a dying signal.

"He's hardly still alive," She explained flatly folding the scanner away. "And I signed on to the war to save lives, not to be a slave. So just snuff me now. At least I'd die with dignity." Pure venom was heard in her voice while she gave him a cold glare.

"Why so dramatic?" The mech smirked at her. He tried to hide how displeased he really was by her sudden change of attitude. "A medic is better alive than dead. And as for your injured Decepticon friend... I will make sure our troops will look for him. I don't know, if he will make it to here in once piece. I hope you're not too sentimental."

"Why so snarky?" She huffed in response. "Besides, I'd be repairing the enemy, wouldn't I? What good does that do me, if they're going to slaughter other Cons? You Autobots are no better than us really, you commit genocide against us on a daily basis, destroy our bases, our homes rather. And still you belittle us as scum, at least Decepticons end your suffering once and for all!"

Her words made him go grim, it could be easily seen in his blue optics. But maybe it wasn't about what she just said but about the fact she had dared to voice her opinion?

"If I were you, I'd mind my tongue – you're flapping it a bit too carefree, some of the guards might get upset."

"Upset? I thought Autobots enjoyed the truth," she mocked.

At this point she felt like she had nothing to lose so watching her tongue was the last thing on her mind.

"Or maybe Autobots can't handle the truth?" She snorted with amusement.

This was not what Outride had hoped for, the femme in the cell didn't respect him. She apparently thought it was all just a joke, he had to prove how wrong she was and teach her where a prisoner's place was.

"Guards!" He called out and the two mechs appeared within a few astroseconds. Both of them heavy-armored and with their blasters ready.

"What's the problem, sir?" One of them asked as he saw that the Con was still where she should be – locked in her cell and unarmed.

"This prisoner is not appreciating our good intentions to feed her energon. Perhaps we treated her to kind by removing her gag and cuffs," he looked in her direction making sure she could guess what was coming.

"Like I said, no better than a Con. But if that's what you wish..."

She grinned waking over and holding her servos out.

"Go ahead, you're only proving my point. And all I had to do was say something you didn't like."

Outride didn't bother to answer her, at least not in front of the other soldiers, he only nodded his helm and the guards knew what to do at once. They pointed their guns at her.

"Enough of your talking," he ordered coldly. "Hands on the wall, so we can see them!"

He was going to enter the cell and cuff her himself – if he wanted it done right, that was the only choice. The Con wouldn't have it her way, oh no! Some 'silent time' would teach her.

"Darling, you can see them right now." She chuckled. "But ooookay." She put her hands on the wall. "Happy, hot stuff?" She asked sarcastically, she clearly didn't give a frag.

"More respect towards an officer, Con-scum!" One of the guards snapped at her while the other opened the cell and Outride walked in.

Small handcuffs were clicking in his hand as he played with them nervously. He moved closer to the femme, approaching her from behind.

One of his hands reached to grab her right servo.

"You get what you give," she purred.

She didn't resist and looked at him for a second before looking at the wall and mumbling something in seeker. They'd already taken what she valued most: Her freedom. Why would she care about cuffs?

The mech cuffed her hands behind her back, not too roughly but also not particularly trying to be gentle. He also didn't miss his chance to actually put his hand on her right wing. And even if it was only for a mere astrosecond, the smooth and cold surface felt so right, almost slick and fragile under his hasty fingers. He couldn't let himself enjoy this for longer though so he quickly moved his other hand to her face, pushing the gag into her mouth.

She growled softly, her wing smacking him for copping a feel. She wanted to shove him away but not with the other two mechs around. Her patience was running short with each passing moment.

From the way her frame reacted, he knew she didn't like that treatment. He, however liked being in control. He slightly bent down to strap the gag on the back on her head so she wouldn't be able to spit it out. As he did that, he managed to whisper into her audio-receptor: "Have patience."

Then he let her go, not wanting her to do anything stupid. The guards were waiting for the smallest wrong move from her to open a fire and Outride really didn't want her to get hurt.

She ignored him completely moving away from him and sitting on her berth before laying down, she couldn't really do anything but that. She shifted bringing her legs through her arms so the cuffs were on the front.

The Autobot left her cell and reset the electro-bars behind him. There was no reason for him to be there anymore, even if the femme wasn't furious with him about all the troubles he just put her through, she still wasn't able to talk anyway. She'd better stay alone for now, he decided. Giving her some time in that not-so-comfortable position, cuffed and gagged and without her energon ration, should probably make her more obedient and not so impertinent. Not like he didn't like femmes with some temper but at the same time he couldn't allow his authority being undermined.

"Watch out for her," he ordered the guards loud enough for NorthStar to hear him. "No removing the restrains until I, or some other officer, gives the direct order to. I will try to check on her in few joors or maybe next orn. Till then, let her rot in her cell."

With that said he left, carefully planning what to do next. He certainly was going to report today's events to the Master Tactician. Of course he'd tell his boss that the femme was provocative and her poisonous words could decrease the other soldiers' morale. He had two witnesses to prove his words. If everything went according to his plan, the commanding officer would not allow any low ranked front-liners to interact with such a manipulative and dangerous femme anymore. Soon, only he would be allowed to talk to her.

Outride liked that plan and he hoped she would understand why that little drama with cuffing her had been necessary. No one could suspect anything since even simply thinking about a Decepticon that way was wrong for an Autobot soldier. Outride was better safe than sorry. And next time he could always make it up to his winged beauty for treating her bad.

Meanwhile inside her cell NorthStar growled softly, she couldn't figure out why he couldn't handle a few smart remarks. She wouldn't let him win, oh no, not at all. He'd issued a challenge and she wasn't giving up. She looked at her cuffs extending her claws and slicing off the gag, tossing it to the side before turning her back to the two guards and slipping into recharge.

The rest of this orn was looking rather promising for Outride. The reporting went well, he managed to convince his commanding officer to not allow the low ranked soldiers talking to or teasing the imprisoned Con. He even got the permission to go to the city tonight to calm down a bit after the troubles the prisoner had given him earlier. Anybot who knew a bit about Outride's past would probably assume that he held a grudge toward the Seekers but to be honest that wasn't the case. He didn't want to enlighten them however, his private things were not for them to know.

"Hey buddy! You got a furlough?" His Autobot colleague from the communication department waved at him as soon as Outride entered his favorite pub in the downtown alley. "I've heard you got some info from that slagging Con we had captured. Our team is checking on whatever files we can find about her but it seems that she was telling the truth."

Outride sat down at the table with the other mech. It looked like his friend had been here for quite some time already, judging from the empty high-grade cubes lying around. But that was fine, he didn't mind having a drink or two either.

The night was passing by fast and the more cubes he had, the more often he thought about NorthStar. She must have been lonely in her dark, narrow cell. Was she missing him? He hoped she did. Maybe he should get her a high-grade as well and switch it for the normal energon ration they gave every prisoner. That should cheer her up, right?

"May I ask you something?" He turned to his companion who was currently staring at some cheap dance performance transmitted on the main screen in the bar. "Can you let me into the surveillance room? You have a key card for it, right?"

"Sure thing," the other replied audibly intoxicated, "but what for? The guys in there will have an eye on that Con, if that is what bothers you. You worry too much. Chill out, have a cube on me!"

They had a cube indeed and after that it was even easier to convince the mech to actually visit those guys stuck for the night at the boring surveillance room.

And when they got there, and Outride thought he was finally going to see the femme who had occupied his mind for all that time, she actually wasn't in her cell.

"Where's the prisoner?"

"That Seeker? They dragged her off for interrogation," the mech working at the monitor explained. "The interrogator from the Delta base arrived just a few joors ago. They surely gonna ask her about that distress signal she received."

Outride's optics widened, he didn't like the sound of it at all.


	3. Chapter 3

NorthStar had a rather rude wake up call as she was yanked out of her berth by a large orange mech.

"Get up scumbag and get moving!" He growled jabbing her in the side with an electric rod, making her jerk to her feet.

As she was marched down the prison halls past many other cells, the Cons who had been kept there looked almost sorry for her. She heard one of them whispering to the other: "TiltShift is going to kill that poor fembot." The Seeker who said that had a missing optic.

She was getting more nervous with every astrosecond, her wings started twitching as she entered a dimly lit hall, screams of other poor souls echoed off the walls making NorthStar whimper.

"You'll be too easy," the orange mech known as TiltShift snorted dragging the femme into an energon stained room, he strapped her down before removing the gag. "So you're a medic, huh?"

"And you must be an interrogator?" She mocked.

What came next was a sharp, piercing pain of being stabbed in the side with a pointy object. It made her yelp.

"Watch that mouth of yours," he snarled removing the knife. "Now, I've got a few questions to you NorthStar and there are two ways we can do this. One - you tell me what I want to know and I let you go, two - you be a stubborn piece of slag and I beat it outa ya."

She laughed at him.

"Hit me with your best shot."

The mech didn't seem to like that because she got prodded once again, the pain made her jerk around.

"What's your unit?"

"Unit of your dreams, jack-aft."

"UNIT!" He growled stabbing her leg and ripping the knife down making her whine loudly.

"Alpha T1!" She cried. She was lying of course but he wasn't going to know that.

A few joors and some holes in her wings later she was thrown into her cell, leaking processed energon from almost everywhere.

"See, easy," said TiltShift with a nasty smirk before walking away.

All she could do was praying she'd be repaired before bleeding out to offlining. She gripped her wounded side and hissed in pain curling up and whining. She despised this place and the people in it, yet for some reason she wanted to see him in the false hope that maybe he'd help her.

Outride was right about not liking the news about NorthStar's interrogation and his colleagues words only assured him in that. The mech called TiltShift was an infamous ex-wracker and interrogator known from his cruel methods, ruthlessness and sadistic tendencies. The guy was said to chop the fliers wings off so they could never fly again – that had pushed some seekers to the edge of their sanity. Outride didn't wish that to NorthStar. No bot were touching her wings! No bot!

Waiting for the right moment was long and painful but the prisoner's feeding time finally came and he could sneak inside the cellblock under the alibi of helping to distribute the energon ration. Wasting no time, he quickly handed small plates to the other prisoners but there was only one cybertronian that really interested him. In no time he was at he door to her cell.

"NothStar?"

Her wings perked up when she heard his voice, she turned to see him though her frame screeched in protest. Dare she say she was happy to see this pestering Autobot, with his cocky attitude and underlying tone of kindness to her? Even if Autobot medics had come to repair the major damage meantime, they hadn't stayed long having heard of how dangerous and vile this particular femme could be.

She slowly pushed herself up onto her peds tiredly walking over to him and using the wall as support.

"Hi there, Boy Scout. Came to see me again?" She chuckled softly with a meek smile.

The femme looked better than he had expected, thanks Primus a medic must have already take care of her wounds. Still, from the scratches and dents on her wings, legs and sides he knew she wasn't fine. Outride should have been worried or angry at that fragger who had dared to touch her but instead he just smiled at her.

"Of course I did. Didn't I promises you that?" He carefully stretched out his hand between the electro-bars intending to touch her.

She smiled softly.

"I guess you did, just where I'm from promises only last as long as it benefits the other bot." She watched his movements carefully but allowed him to touch if he pleased, after all she was at least going to try to play nice with him. "So what about this benefits you? Or did you just miss me that much?" She chuckled and her wings flickered.

Of course he wasn't about to admit that he thought of her, no, that would put him in the disadvantage so that was not a smart strategy to take. He gently moved his fingers down her white, metallic cheek and to her jawline. She didn't protest and that made him feel more confident than ever. With a hand on her chin now, he lightly pull her in to have her even closer to the buzzing, blue bars.

"I guess we could both give something to gain something else, what do you think?" He narrowed his optics slightly, his voice barely more than a whisper. "As much as I enjoy your presence here in the base, I don't have the means to keep you from harm. But perhaps I could help you..."

Her optics widened slightly as a curious look crossed her followed by a Cheshire grin.

"Oh really? And what would hypothetically be the plan to help me?" She questioned softly as her wings swiveled happily, her servo gently resting over his.

The touch of her hand felt cool on his armor, his optics wandered from her pretty wings to her face and back. He wasn't sure what was the expression he wore right now but his face-plate seemed to be hot as if overheating engine.

"I will ask for your transfer to another base. And the cuffs I'll put on you are gonna be damaged. How does that sound?"

He focused his gaze at her hand holding his. Her claws look sharp but he wasn't afraid. He reached out his thumb and skimmed it through her lip-plates teasingly and lightly, wondering what the femme would do next.

"Thank you," she said softly before her servo lightly rested on his cheek, she spotted two guards coming their way and acted like she was being punished lowering her stance to submission. "I'm sorry sir, I swear I won't do it again!" She whined as they passed.

Her sudden action brought Outride back to reality, he hadn't expected anybot to come this way but unfortunately he was wrong. And he didn't like being proven wrong.

He cursed silently as the guards took some interest in the two of them, whatever he had hoped for went to waste. With a sigh he played along of course: "You won't do it again, I assure you Con. I will be requesting your transfer and you won't like the place we will put you in," he wormed her with a fake anger in his voice. "They will know what to do with an insolent scums like you there."

The guards walked over.

"This one is causing troubles again, sir?"

"Indeed. Report this prisoner trying her tricks on the Autobot officer on duty", he order, "And I will go straight to the chief of security to request her transfer."

One of the guard nodded and soon both were on their way. Outride had to be going too, he turned to NorthStar to look at her once again.

"You owe me."

She gave a soft sigh.

"You act as if I could ever repay you. Thank you for everything. I won't forget your kindness," She whispered walking back to her berth and sitting down, there really wasn't much else she could do but wait and plan her escape. She wanted to do something for him but she didn't know how or why, it was just odd how kind he was to her.

On his way out of the cellblock Outride fought back the urge to chuckle. "Kindness," he thought, "did she really mistook my fascination for kindness?"

Nevertheless, it was a pity that soon she would be gone. And he didn't even have the chance to play with her sweet, sweet wings. He was really going to miss her.

The prison worked fast and got NorthStar's transfer papers filled out, she got qualified as a class 6 threat, not enough for her to be paid attention to, quite the opposite, they had specific orders to avoid as much interaction with the femme as possible. The next orn they were preparing to ship the prisoners to their new 'homes'.

NorthStar sighed waiting in her cell to either be given a glimmer of hope for escape or be dragged out by some mech she wouldn't know, she was hoping he'd show up, that he'd get her out. "Why am I putting so much faith in an Autobot?" She mused as she paced around her cell like a caged animal "I'll either get out or get killed, but I win however it goes." She thought as a ghost of a smile graced her lips.

Outride, as a well-informed officer, knew of course that this orn the prisoners transferring would take place, however he couldn't do much about the orders he had got earlier. Currently he ended up sitting in the office, filling the database and trying his best to finish this task on time unless he would miss his chance to see NorthStar for the last time.

His plan was simple, ten joors ago he had walked into the prison storage on the pretext of the Master Tactician's order to check if there was enough supplies for the smooth transfer procedure. Then he had used his inbuilt acid squirt weapon to melt the lock devices of few pairs of hand and wing cuffs. Now they looked just the same as a normal cuffs but the lock was not working properly. He was sure NorthStar would have no problem figuring that out and with her sharp claws she didn't really need a blade or melee weapon to take care of herself while escaping.

Meanwhile in the cellblock it was time to gather the Con prisoners selected for the transfer, the chief of security supervised the procedure herself.

Everything had gone smoothly and NorthStar was grouped with two other seekers who had also gotten the faulty cuffs and had been conversing with North in seeker while being walked out with only electric prods keeping them at bay.

As soon as the three were far enough from the prison they broke their binds and took off like bats out of Pit. They dogged the shots that were fired at them in a complex show of speed and agility, each one flying as if they were in perfect synch. Eventually the Autobots fired a heat seeking missiles and the Seekers split up, circling around before they flew directly for the prison. Then they pulled up just a brief moments before the expected impact with the wall. One of them didn't make it and crashed in a brilliant display of energon and flames, making a large hole in the south prison wing allowing for more prisoners to escape. The other missiles hit the walls of the west wing. It was utter chaos as prisoners made a brake for it, some of them being gunned down or recaptured, some transforming and driving in all directions.

"DECEPTICONS, TRANSFORM AND RETREAT!" Multiple Seekers bellowed and as the smoke cleared most of the prison was in ruin. Burnt corpses littered the ground along with multiple damaged Bots and Cons alike.

NorthStar got exactly what she wanted – the place she hated so much was no more. She looked back for a moment scanning for him before taking off. Maybe one day she'd see her little Autobot again? If he survived, that is.


	4. Chapter 4

The alarm rang as if there was no tomorrow, Outride got back to his pedes after the impact had made him fall to the floor. He cursed Primus and all the Thirteen and activated his blaster. He could guess what had just happened, the Seekers had attacked the base instead of flying the Pit out of here.

"Prisoners are escaping!" Somebot shouted as Outride ran down the corridor with many other soldiers.

When they got to the prison wing the fight was already over and the landscape didn't look to appealing. Two missiles had destroyed the thick, concrete walls so Cons that could fly probably had vanished but grounders had had less luck, as they were still outnumbered by the Autobot soldiers. Nevertheless the whole place was demolished beyond further usage, at least for a few lunar cycles. Most of the guards who had been on duty during the attack got offlined, their motionless frames were laying among the rubble.

"Call for the medics!" The chief of security shouted her orders, "Search for survivors!"

The truth was, the more guards had died, the less witnesses there were to confirm that Outride had been in the storage room before the incident. He sighed, it all had turned out too spectacular for his liking but as long as nobot suspected him... Still, the stupid glitch could have warned him first. What if he had made it on time to her transfer? He would have been dead just like those guards here.

Watching the flames dying out Outride made a promise to himself, if he ever met this crazy femme again, he would thank her for reminding him how dangerous and strong Seekers really were.

The units of Cons who had escaped the Autobots returned to their old bases or grouped up and built temporary shelters, North had stayed and helped with the building of a place like that where she could tend to injured mechas after the attack. Busy with her work, she still wondered if the bright-green mech was alive, he seemed to haunt her mind as an agitating reminder that, if it weren't for him, she'd still be there. And worse, she'd be offline.

A few lunar cycles later she was cleared to go on another scouting mission, her objective was to search for any survivors and this time she came prepared with heavily armored grounders for her protection and a few stealth seekers to watch the skies as she worked. They had to ward off a group of Autobots leaving North to herself as she attempted to repair a mech whose midsection was practically destroyed. Unluckily for her a familiar Autobot happened to be in the area and she was none the wiser about Outride's presence.

His current mission was to simply command the small Autobot squad on their way from Macron Gamma to Macron Delta base and back. The squad contained two transporter car-formers, two bodyguards and him – the commanding officer. The mission objective was to deliver the supply needed for repairing the equipment that had been destroyed during the latest prison escape. And all would be easy like a piece of oil-cake if not for a certain, unidentified cybertronians that one of the bodyguards had just spotted off-road.

It was only two individuals but that could be a trap. Outride ordered them all to wait while he and one of his bodyguards would transform and approach the unknown bots with caution.

The two of them walked forward as quiet as they could and to Outride's surprise the dark frame kneeling over the others half-destroyed frame looked awfully familiar. Those black perky wings, those scarlet red bio-lights – he knew that femme, no doubts. It had to be NorthStar.

They were still a few mechanometers from her when she heard their pedesteps. The bodyguard aimed at her with his gun but Outride held him from firing with a hand gesture. The other three Autobots stood quite far from them but the femme seemed to be on her own. At least that was what Outride thought at that moment.

The femme's wings flared as she turned around hearing somebot approaching.

"Oh frag," she muttered under her breath pulling out an energy shield and activating it.

"You can't leave me here, the Autobots are coming," the mech who she was repairing croaked and she only sighed.

"Look, I'm just doing my job so why don't you all just move along," she said giving a sharp look to Outride, now pulling out her sword too.

"Sir, they are Decepticons!" The Autobot soldier shouted noticing the faction logo on the injured mech's shoulder plate.

"Everybot stay calm," Outride commanded and then turned to the femme, "Are you two alone here?"

"Lucky for us, no," she said with a smirk before the flyers landed pointing their blasters at the Autobots and the grounders came waltzing up after. "You see, I don't make the same mistakes twice." North cooed as she carefully picked the injured mech up. "But we'll leave now and no one has to get hurt, just let us go," she said slowly backing behind the grounders.

He thought of that for a long moment, the tension between the Autobots and Decepticons all aiming their guns at one another was getting unbearable. The other three members of his team had already seen more Cons arriving and they were heading this way as well. A few more astroseconds and their forces would be more or less equal. Or rather less than more - considering the Decepticons were all trained soldiers while two bots of his squad were only mechanics and couriers.

Making his decision he slowly raised both hands up in a gesture of surrender. Seeing this, his bodyguard did exactly the same. The Cons didn't lower their blasters but some of them smirked contemptuously.

Suddenly, with a move as fast as lightning, Outride pointed his gun at the Autobot next to him and fired. The mech fell to the ground hit square in the helm, his frame shaking convulsively before he offlined.

North stared at him in disbelief, was this the same mech that had gagged and cuffed her for only comparing their two factions? And now he had seemingly turned on the Autobots?

"What do you think you're doing?" The poor medic was so confused and still trying to process what just had happened.

Even the grounders looked a bit surprised by his actions, though the other Seekers couldn't really care less.

"Don't just stay there," Outride barked at the Cons who still stared at him or at the offlined body, "kill the other three before they call for reinforcements." His blue optics had a cold expression when he locked them on NorthStar's face. "We will talk in a moment, Sweetspark. For now enjoy the fight."

The Seekers instantly armed their sniper rifles taking all three remaining Autobots out and only slightly questioning why they were taking orders from some bossy mech they'd never seen before.

North arched an optic ridge at him.

"Sweetspark, huh?" She questioned with a skeptical look. "So betraying the Autobots? You had it good with 'em Boy Scout, why give it up?"

She handed the injured mech off to one of the grounders and walked over to Outride.

He didn't dare to move just yet, just in case the Cons wouldn't believe in his good intentions. They didn't know him obviously, only NorthStar could actually testify to his previous act of helping her. But seeing her all surprised and unsure and maybe even curious to hear his story made him a bit too cocky for these circumstances.

"Don't flatter yourself." He smirked, and this smug expression didn't really fit his young-looking face-plate. "It's not because of you. I was on the Decepticon side all along," he briefly explained. "Why would anybot sign up for a losing team when they can join the future winners?"

"I never said it was because of me, smart aft, and why should we believe that you're not trying to trick us?" She questioned cocking a hip as the other Seekers turned their aim to his helm. "As far as I'm concerned, you're just another Autobot. So tell us something to sway our opinion, otherwise you'll be joining your buddies over there." She nodded to the dead Autobots keeping a cold glare on him.

"Yes, ma'am," he agreed mockingly, imitating her own way of acting from a month ago when she still had been trapped in the Autobot prison. "Do you remember when I asked you to memorize my name? That name was a lie. My real name is Acrid. You can check my files if you have an access to the list of bots recruited at Vos five solar cycles ago. Or maybe you'd rather call Commander Starscream about that?" He cocked his head to the right side. "I guess the fact that I also already saved your spark risking my cover means nothing to you?"

"Oh, you are a clever one, and no it never did. I just thought you were another mech who'd fallen hopelessly in love with me," she said jokingly. "Well, if you are a Decepticon, I'm glad I won't be sided with a complete idiot. Alright boys," she ordered her escort, "I need to save this one but my good tools are at base, transform and let's move out!"

The mechs nodded, transformed and took off.

She really did find it amusing that he risked so much to save her, he was hopeless. In love? Dubitable. She chuckled to herself thinking over her little stay in the prison.

Acrid looked at their sleek, fast alt-mode with a pang of envy in his spark. Seekers really had it all, the grace, the looks and the fire-power. Of course a femme like NorthStar wouldn't bother with a grounder like him, and if all he had done so far didn't impress her enough to show some gratitude, he didn't know what would.

"You still owe me!" He called at her trying to outshout the sound of jet engines. But to be honest, he didn't believe they would meet again. And even if they did, she wouldn't give him what he wanted. It was better to forget about her, about her and her damned wings and hips and heels.

She chuckled softly hearing his call, ordering the others to continue to the base and take the injured bot on hook. She flipped up and around transforming midflight and hovering down to him. "Owing you, am I?" She questioned with a smirk, walking around him. "I suppose for busting me out I do owe you some shred of gratitude. It is after all not every day that a mech would do that for someone, let alone another Decepticon," she stated stopping in front of him. "So tell me, how do you wish for me to repay this debt?" She murmured teasingly and her wings flicked, she couldn't believe she was honestly doing this. What about this mech made her want to stay, what about this jerk made her happy? What about him made her curious? She just couldn't wrap her helm around it.

At first he couldn't believe she actually came back down to him, her unexpected action made Acrid suddenly lose most of his confidence. Did she want to tease him some more as she had done before? Should he fall for her seduction and tell her what was on his mind?

"Well," he started, his voice sounding raspy. He licked his lipplates which had gotten dry for some reason before he could even utter the rest of it. "Back in the jail we didn't have the time and we got interrupted, remember?" He moved his right servo to touch her faceplate just like he had done back then. "So I though..."

"Well, if that's all you want~" she purred softly before cupping his cheek with her servo, pulling him into a quick kiss. Her wings fluttered slightly as her visor and biolights glowed happily. She had to admit, she was glad he'd said something before she was out of audial shot.

A jolt of pleasure shot through his frame the very moment their lipplates met. It all happened so fast and made him hungry for so much more. He put his left servo on her perfectly curved hip-plate not wanting her to move away just yet.

"It's not all," he whispered into her audio receptor, "I want to... Let me play with your wings."

She gave an amused look before turning around. "Go ahead, but be careful. They are rather sensitive." She chuckled, the lightest hint of a dusty blush covering her cheeks.

Acrid's spark pulsated frantically as the femme submitted to his request. Her long, black, delicate wings were within the reach of his servo. Finally! He licked his lipplates again and slid one of his fingers along the edge of her right wing. The movement was as light as a gentle breeze. He would take it slow this time - he wanted to fully enjoy it.

Next he pressed both hands on the spot where the wings connected to her back-plate, he gave a small rub and slowly moved up to the pointy top. When his palms got there, he pinched the sharp, red end and teased it with his fingers. It was the first time he had a seeker letting him do things like that, the excitement filled his energon-lines, his frame starting to overheat.

She purred softly crossing her arms and biting her lip, she'd never admit how amazing it felt and she was definitely going to try not to show that either. Though, that ultimately didn't work as her wings pushed lightly into the touch which was making her relax.

That was until he pinched the tip making her face go bright pink, her purring got a bit louder as her frame heated up a bit. She'd never really let anyone touch her wings except other Seekers and that was for cleaning and repairs.

"Hey, w-what did I say about being careful!" She grumbled, cursing herself for stuttering.

He knew she enjoyed it as much as he did, he could tell from the sound of her voice even if the words she had actually said suggested otherwise. He smiled but she wasn't able to see this.

"Did it hurt?" He mocked still grinning like an idiot. "Don't worry, darling. Let me kiss it better."

Not waiting for any reply, he pressed his warm lipplates against the side of her right wing.

She shuddered softly as her wings arched.

"Shut up, I don't have to let you play with my wings," she huffed not liking his smart remarks and at the same time enjoying the wing rubs.

Not even pretending to be sorry for this little mockery and not really discouraged by the femme's grumpiness Acrid let his lips travel up her wing, kissing his way to the top.

"Of course you don't have to," he murmured seductively stopping his caress for an astrosecond, "but you want to, don't you?"

To make his point, he used his wet glossa to lick the tip of her already warm wing with a quick, flickering movement.

She blushed darkly as a soft pleasured gasp escaped her and her wings started to quiver.

"Maybe, but I can find any mech to do it. It doesn't have to be an inexperienced little grounder," she snorted. "Maybe I should go find another Seeker to do it, I'm sure they'd already have me pleading for more~"

She was teasing him, seeing what buttons she could push before she pushed too far. Unfortunately, she had just touched on a sore point with her snide remark. Acrid paused for a moment feeling the energon boiling with rage in his cables. His palms clinched on her wings uncontrollably.

"Shut up," he huffed, his optics burning with a mixture of need and anger.

She winced slightly, both at the grip on her wings and his harsh tone.

"Alright, if you're going to be like that let me go and you'll never have to see me again."

Realizing that he might have overreacted, the mech loosened his grip and tried to calm down. The second was hard to achieve however, especially with all those mixed and intense feelings that were rolling inside his tank. He didn't want her to go. Heck no, he was not going to let her fly away just like that! But at the same time he was not going to apologize to her either.

"You're talking too much," he muttered half-annoyed and half-embarrassed of what that damn femme had done to him, making him lose his self-control as if he was a mechling. "You Seekers think you're so independent. But if it wasn't for me, you'd be rusting in the Autobot prison 'till who knows how long. The Decepticons will always need some grounders. And I can make you need me too, just wait." He nipped at wing passionately showing her his determination.

"Talking too much? You must not have very much experience with the Seekers, frankly what I say is bland compared to others," she snorted once again submitting to his welcome touches. "Seekers are practically made to play off the strength of others. It's just how Seekers work, it's how we've always worked." She said softly as her wings twitched, she squirmed slightly when he started nipping her wing making the other one flicker and her frame heat up even more.

Acrid, being a deep cover agent had almost never had an occasion to interact with the Seekers at all. That was partially why he treasured every astrosecond of this situation. He might even have been interested in what NorthStar had to say, if not for his mind full of other, more pleasurable thoughts right now. His greedy hands wandered over her wings along with his glossa, he was leaving soft bites here and there admiring her frame's reactions to that.

After a while the mech moved on to her hips. Not like he was bored playing with her wings already but he wasn't sure what would pleasure a Seeker femme the most and he had a few ideas to try out. Putting one hand on her right hip-plate he pulled her even closer, wanting her to feel his overheating frame behind her. When their armors connected he let out a small gasp. With all the attention he gave to her he almost forgot about his own frame.

"Someone's ready for some fun~" she chuckled turning to face him and pushing her chest against his before kissing and nipping his neck while her servos roamed his frame with light teasing touches around more sensitive areas. She bit down on his neck hard enough to draw energon, which wasn't a challenge with her rather sharp fangs. Her claws traced his transformation seams before she leaned toward his audial: "Too bad you won't find that type of fun here~" she whispered before pulling away from him and taking a few steps back to look at his face while the pink in hers faded, replaced with a smirk.

The mech's blue optics, dimmed with desire, gazed at her with a sheer surprised as if the words she had just said didn't sink in yet. He took a step in her direction, a few drops of energon from the bite mark on his neck cable staining his bright green armor.

"W-what?"

She cupped his face.

"Oh Sweetspark, there's a lot you've yet to learn. Lesson number one, don't let your lust show around a seeker, we instantly pick up on it. Lesson number two, I don't get down with mechs who I know next to nothing about. You've had your fun, you played with my wings and my dignity, and I gave you a little something back. Move on to something better than a stubborn seeker." She said with a soft smile rubbing circles on his cheek with her thumb.

Acrid's optic ridge twitched out of frustration. Not only he understood that there would be nothing more and that his fun time was over, he also just got lectured by this pesky femme as if there was nothing between them at all.

He brushed off her hand with an angry gesture.

"Who do you think you are, femme?"

"Who I am? I'm a worthless piece of slag who was torn down and reconstructed from the ground up to serve a cause I don't believe in, another pawn in Megatron's game. I'm what I've always been. You're wasting your time getting mad at me, go find a nice dull seeker femme who's worth your time. Because it's fair game with them."

That was not the reaction he had expected but surprisingly enough it made him calm down.

"Only idiots believe in Megatron's cause," he told her with a serious tone, "and still Megatron is gonna win this war, he's strong and that's all that matters." He looked around at the dead Autobot frames around them as if they proved his words. "You think you're the only one who has gotten seriously damaged?" He added with some hesitation. "And do you know how much was left of my frame after the Armada destroyed Simfur city? Not much but I learned my lesson."

"Nothing from my frame was destroyed when they 'repaired' me, but they wanted a war machine. Not a scrawny runt who couldn't outrun drones in her alt mode." She explained flatly but a bitter undertone was still to be heard in there. "The Decepticons will win this war, and we'll be right there with them." She said wiping the energon off his armor "I'm sorry your city was destroyed, I believe we both have an understanding of what it's like to lose it all."

Indeed, nothing was left of his old life as a neutral, career-focused merchant called Outride. He was Acrid now with everything to gain. And nothing, absolutely nothing would stop him from getting the position he deserved.

"I'm not gonna lose everything twice," he convinced her with a small smile on his face, "that's why you have to help me here. The Autobots will come to realize this mission has failed. And they will find four offlined frames. Four frames and one injured mech, who just happened to survive. You know what I mean?"

"I do, now how much pain can you take and how convincing would you like the wounds to be?" She smiled cracking her knuckles and neck as her wings fluttered. She liked him but she liked beating the crap out of people a little bit more.

He let an air out of his cooling system with a troubled 'heh'. What was coming wasn't going to be pleasant, it couldn't be avoided though. At least he had some nice memories of the sweet taste of her pretty wings on his glossa.

"Convincing," he decided. It was better to be safe than sorry, his story of the Cons' attack had to be believable. "But maybe not extremely convincing," he added on a second thought.

All he hoped was not to whimper in front of that femme and got himself ready for a world of pain.

She purred softly before getting to work, slamming her knee into his chest plating, successfully denting it before adding a deep slash along his arms and abdomen but not deep enough to be difficult to repair, she grabbed his arm and dislocated his shoulder before destroying his left leg, grinding it under her heel.

Once it was all said and done he was left on the ground. She smiled kneeling down next to him and cupping his cheek.

"Until we meet again~," she murmured softly before kissing him sweetly and holding him there before letting go.

With a mouth full of his own energon coming from a cut on his swollen lipplates, Acrid wanted to say something but wasn't really able. The words he mumbled sounded a bit like "find me" but on the other hand it could have just been "thank you". He watched his winged beauty walking away before transforming into her jet-mode and taking off.

He would definitely miss her – that was for sure.

When NorthStar flew away he opened his comm line and called the base: "Mayday, mayday!" He coughed spitting the energon while talking. "Officer Outride speaking... We got attacked... We're requiring a medic, Autobots down..."


End file.
